


Being Here

by twilight_shades



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Kid Fic, Leonard Snart Lives, M/M, Spoilers For Episode: s03e22 Infantino Street, Time Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-12-05 09:32:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11575305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twilight_shades/pseuds/twilight_shades
Summary: A semi-reformed, resurrected supervillain finds an abandoned baby and takes the baby to his friendly neighborhood speedster.





	Being Here

**Author's Note:**

> AU after Barry drops Leonard off in Infantino Street (Season 3, Episode 22).
> 
> Disclaimer: Do not own. Complete fiction.

Leonard saunters away from the mob-fronted store he had been casing. Stealing from mobsters isn’t as much fun as a bank or a museum or a jewelry store because Flash generally isn’t involved (even if he somehow realizes what’s going on, he might not try to stop Leonard), but it is challenging in its own way since getting caught (or someone even thinking that he’d taken part) means mobsters could come gunning for him, which is, of course, part of the thrill. He hears a high-pitched noise as he gets near an alley off Adams. He peers down the dimly lit alley, something about the cry catching his attention (not a cat, not a rat, not a bird). He sees something moving in a box atop a dumpster. It takes a moment for his mind to resolve the movement into something that makes sense. There’s a tiny hand waving around, just barely above the top edge of the box. Leonard stalks over to the box, hoping his eyes are playing tricks on him, but a sneer is already setting on his face as he knows he’s going to find a baby that someone dumped.

He lets his face go neutral as he peers into the box and, yes, it’s a baby, not a newborn, but probably not even six months old. The dark-haired, pale-skinned baby, in a green onesie and on top of a white and yellow blanket, stares at him with wide, bright eyes, alert, and waves its right fist around again. Leonard offers a small smirk and says, “Hello.”

The baby blinks and makes a small screechy noise, like it’s trying to say something back at him.

Leonard’s smirk slides into a smile. He likes babies. Though he enjoys intricate plans and out-thinking and out-maneuvering complex individuals, he sometimes finds himself drawn to uncomplicated people. And babies, for all the complications they can bring into one’s life, are very uncomplicated. They cry when they are hurt or hungry or want to be held or need to be changed and that’s really straightforward.

The baby makes another noise. Leonard looks around, checking to see what opens into the alley. It looks like just stores on either side, which are closed. He takes out his phone and takes a couple of pictures of the baby in the box, the dumpster, and the alley. He also saves the GPS coordinates. He then carefully reaches in and picks up the baby, gathering the blanket along with it, careful not to move the box. The baby seems happy to be picked up, babbling nonsense and enthusiastically patting Leonard’s black leather jacket with both hands. Leonard walks back to the mouth of the alley and takes a picture of the box on the dumpster, before going back to retrieve it. Leonard may not be a big fan of cops, but he’s even less of a fan of people who throw out a baby like it’s trash, so he’ll do his best to preserve any evidence. He’ll drop it off along with the alley pictures on the phone (which is one of three burners he has on him and not the one with anything connected to his earlier activities) and the baby. He’ll have to figure out which safe haven place to drop the baby off at - a hospital seems best, but most of the ones around the city have a fair amount of camera coverage. Even if he does want someone to be punished for this, he doesn’t want to answer any questions about what he was doing in the area or have to deal with any cop’s suspicions of him. Maybe a fire station will work.

Leonard looks down at the baby and asks, “Want to go see a firefighter?”

The baby looks up at the sound of his voice and now that they’re out of the alley and in the full light of the street lamp, he can see the baby’s eyes are a light blue-green. Then one of the baby’s hands moves so fast it’s a blur, leaving an afterimage of orange light as Leonard blinks.

Leonard sighs and says, “Sorry, apparently we’re going to go see the Flash and his friends.”

The baby furrows it’s eyebrows a little and babbles something, sounding a little questioning.

Leonard answers like the baby has asked something. “Yes. Yes,… Blaze, we really do. And hey, Barry’s a CSI, he can maybe figure out where you’re from without involving the police at all. Maybe.” Leonard looks at the baby consideringly as he walks toward the car he, hmm, acquired earlier. “Or maybe he might already have an idea who your mother could be, hmm? After all, you probably aren’t another evil speedster and you definitely aren’t old enough to have been around for the particle accelerator. So either one or both of your parents are metas... or somebody’s doing some real sick experiments.”

After a few minutes of walking they’re at the car. Leonard puts the box in the trunk. He looks at the baby and then the car. He sighs again and gets out the phone with nothing on it and calls Lisa. It takes a couple of minutes to get her to agree to pick up a baby car seat and bring it to the car. While he’s on the phone, he spots a supercenter up the street and tells Lisa that he’ll either be at the car or in the store and hangs up before she can ask more questions.

~~~

Lisa’s in the car when he gets back. She’s got one of the back doors open, she’s kneeling on the backseat, hunched over something, and she’s swearing up a storm.

“Hey, sis.”

She stops swearing and starts to pull herself out of the car. “Lenny, car seats are demonic, you better have a good expla-“ she cuts herself off as she finally gets fully extracted and turned around to face him properly. “That’s a baby.”

“Hence the car seat.”

“I thought you were doing one of your getaway car disguises.”

Leonard smirks, nodding, “Not a bad assumption. I guess I didn’t exactly explain.”

“No, you didn’t. Alright, so who’s baby is that?”

“Don’t know.”

She frowns at him. “So, where did he? She? Come from?”

“Found the baby in a box. On a dumpster, in an alley.”

Lisa’s expression goes dark. “Somebody just threw him, her out?”

“Yeah. And I don’t know which. I’ve been calling the baby Blaze.” He looks down at Blaze and looks at Lisa, frowning. “Blaze hasn’t needed to be changed, yet. Which maybe means that Blaze hasn’t had anything to eat in a while. But I got these.” He hands over the plastic bags to Lisa. 

She goes through the bags. “Formula, bottled water, bottles, diapers, wipes, cream, blanket, baby outfit with ducks, baby outfit with frogs. Ducks and frogs?”

“Least annoying ones.”

“Aww, Lenny, they didn’t have any with ice or snow?”

Leonard looks at her exasperatedly.

She just smiles wide and waits, setting the bags aside

Leonard rolls his eyes but finally, resentfully says, “No, they didn’t.” And he’d looked.

Lisa cackles with glee.

Leonard’s not fond of being laughed at, but he likes seeing his sister laugh, so he offers, “They didn’t have any with gold or fire, either.”

Lisa laughs harder, until she snorts to a stop. “So, I’m guessing with all this stuff, you’re not dropping the baby off at a hospital or something?” she asks, looking curious, but not disapproving. “And why ‘Blaze’?”

“Well, Blaze, here, can-“ he breaks off as Blaze blurs a hand through the air, “-do that.” He looks down at Blaze and smiles, “Very good timing, kid.”

Blaze makes a happy-sounding crowing noise.

Leonard continues, “I think the best thing is to take Blaze to STAR Labs and they’re not exactly set up for babies, thus, the stuff.”

Lisa is looking at Blaze, blinking. “Do you think the Flash is the father?”

Leonard shrugs. “It’s not like we’ve had a shortage of speedsters in Central. But I don’t even know that a parent has to be a speedster, maybe just a meta. Every meta’s powers seem to have had something to do with some aspect of them or what they were doing at time of the explosion, so I have no idea how that would work genetically. Either way, I think the Flash and his team will be better equipped to deal with Blaze.”

Lisa nods. “And ‘Blaze’?”

“And ‘Blaze’ because of the speed, because of the orange, and,” he pauses, hesitating before going ahead and saying it, “Mick would like it.”

Lisa bites her lip, the way she always does when she’s about to talk about something difficult. “I know things are still weird between you and Mick, especially with him staying on that ship, but I know you’ll get back to good, like you always do and be partners in crime again. And, whatever anyone else thinks you should do, I’m glad that you came back.” Then she moves her shoulders like she shrugging off the feelings that neither one of them is completely comfortable dealing with.

“Thanks, sis,” Leonard murmurs, keeping his eyes on Blaze.

“Alright, I almost have this damn seat set, just give me a minute,” Lisa says and gets back in the backseat.

Leonard retrieves the bags and opens the passenger side door, laying Blaze down while he pulls out water, formula, and a bottle. Blaze starts making excited noises when the bottle comes out. Leonard makes up a bottle and then scoops Blaze up and presents it. Blaze sucks down the formula greedily, making grunting noises. Blaze still seems hungry after the bottle, so Leonard fixes another. It’s not until after two bottles, a prodigious burp, and a diaper change, that Lisa finally gets the car seat in place and firmly attached.

“Congratulations, it’s a boy,” Leonard says as he puts Blaze in Lisa’s arms and goes to put everything in order.

Lisa crosses her eyes at Blaze and Blaze tries to grab her hair. Lisa smiles and then looks over at Leonard as he closes the trunk, confused. “Did you just put a dirty diaper in the trunk?”

“Present for the Flash team. Evidence. I’m sure someone will be _ecstatic_ to process it.”

Lisa huffs out a little laugh. “Did you want me to come with you?”

“Nah, we’re golden.”

Lisa rolls her eyes at him and puts Blaze in the car seat. “If you need back-up, just call. Oh, not between 6 and 10 tomorrow night, though. And maybe have an alibi, for then, too.”

“I’ll call if I need to. Steal something cool for me.” Leonard drops a swift kiss on her temple and pretends that he hadn’t.

Lisa shakes her head and smiles a little. “Bye, Lenny.” She leans into the car and waves at Blaze. “Bye, Blaze.” She closes the car door and heads off.

Leonard watches until she’s on her bike and then gets in the car.

~~~

Leonard holds Blaze and watches as Barry and Ramon continue to freak out as they move around. Blaze seems to watch with interest, too. Leonard has no idea where Snow is.

“Are you sure he isn’t yours?” Ramon asks for the fifth time.

Leonard looks at him and instead of answering in the affirmative again, he says deadpan, “No, you’re right, he is mine. I got Eobard Thawn pregnant and this is how I decided to tell you.”

Barry lets out a noise that’s a cross between a giggle and an exclamation of disgust.

“I hate you so much right now for putting horrifying images in my head,” Ramon complains.

Leonard sighs and says, “I got a vasectomy years ago and the last time Gideon checked me over, it hadn’t reversed itself.”

Both Barry and Ramon go completely still and stare at him.

“Why?” Barry blurts out.

“I was worried,” Leonard says coolly. The unspoken part, “that I’d turn out like my father,” echoes loudly in his head.

Judging from the look on Barry’s face, Leonard doesn’t have to have said it.

Ramon breaks the moment, saying, “Uh, you said you there was evidence?”

Leonard gets the keys out of his pocket and tosses them to Barry. “In the trunk, the box and the plastic bag,” Leonard says. 

Barry speeds away. Leonard gets the right phone out of another pocket and manages to toss it to Ramon just as Barry returns.

“Ugh, what smells?” Ramon asks, wrinkling his nose.

Leonard nods toward Blaze, “Dirty diaper.”

“Eww, why?” Ramon asks.

“It might help figure out where he came from,” Leonard says.

“He’s right, it’s possible that tests can determine the specific make-up from it and we can figure out exactly what he’s been eating and which water source was used and that could narrow the area down,” Barry pipes up.

“Still, gross,” Ramon says.

“You wouldn’t believe all the crap I have to process as a CSI,” Barry says.

Leonard snorts.

“No, no, that was an unintentional pun,” Barry says.

“I don’t believe you, Scarlet,” Leonard says, then looks down at Blaze and asks, “Do you, Blaze?”

Blaze blows a raspberry.

Barry sputters.

Leonard smiles. “You do have excellent timing, Blaze.”

“By the way, what kind of a name is _Blaze_?” Ramon asks derisively.

Leonard just raises an eyebrow at him and waits.

“Yeah, okay, it’s a pretty good one and I kind of wish I’d thought of it for Barry,” Ramon says grudgingly.

Barry looks like he can’t decide whether to agree or be offended.

Ramon wanders away to his computer, looking through the phone.

Barry makes silly faces at Blaze. Blaze tries to grab his nose. Barry smiles goofily at him. Leonard has a hard time keeping a straight face.

Blaze makes a little sighing noise and Leonard looks at him. Blaze blinks slowly up at him. Leonard repositions him so Blaze’s front is against Leonard’s chest and Blaze can rest his head on Leonard’s shoulder. Blaze snuggles right in and seems to start drifting off. Leonard sways a little, with the slight bounce that seems to help babies go to sleep.

“You’re really good with him,” Barry says quietly.

“He’s easy,” Leonard says dismissively. Blaze is a remarkably unfussy baby. Leonard had wondered earlier if maybe Blaze had hearing problems since he hadn’t cried once, but since Blaze seems pretty reactive to sound, Leonard is hoping he’s just naturally like that and it isn’t something that someone had conditioned him to.

“That doesn’t mean you’re not good with him,” Barry says with a smile.

“Barry Allen, stop trying to idealize me,” Leonard says and if it maybe comes out more softly than he intends, well, he does have a sleeping baby in his arms.

“You hurt people and you rob them,” Barry says like he’s reciting something for school.

“Exactly.”

“And you literally sacrificed your life for everyone. And you’re good with kids.”

Leonard glares at Barry. “That was for Lisa. And Mick. And maybe the team. Everyone else was _collateral._ And I… got better. Also, you’ve seen me with one kid and he’s about as undemanding as they come.”

“I’m not sure it matters _who_ it was for. You gave your life for others,” Barry says earnestly. Barry’s face and voice seem to crumple a little then as he says, “And you didn’t know that you could, um, get better.” He blinks away the pained look and says much more playfully, “And I’ve heard about you and other kids.”

Leonard looks at him suspiciously. “If someone told you about me dealing with… younger me, well, I’ve always known how to take care of myself.”

“I wasn’t just talking about that and your shipmates aren’t the only ones I’ve talked to.”

Leonard frowns at him, ready to deny whatever it is that’s put that happy, knowing expression on Barry’s face until a thought occurs to him, then he smirks. “Been asking around about me, Red?”

Barry blushes and stammers, which Leonard was expecting, then nods, which Leonard was not. Leonard is still studying Barry, trying to figure out what this information means, when Ramon comes back over.

Ramon is subdued. “He was in an alley, on a dumpster?” Ramon says, not really asking, probably just not wanting to believe someone would do that. He seems very young at the moment.

“They just threw him away?” Barry asks in a very small voice.

“Yeah,” Leonard says and he can hear the world-weariness and cynicism heavy in his own voice. He feels so old right now. With all that they had seen, it still surprises these two that people can be complete dicks. He looks at Blaze and finds a part of himself hoping Blaze can be more like them than himself.

Barry shakes off his unhappiness and says briskly, “I have a make-shift lab here, I’ll go get some tests started. Cisco?”

“I’ll be looking for camera footage around the alley and records of nearby residents to see if anything stands out.” Cisco heads back over to his computers.

Barry looks at Leonard. “Caitlin should be here in a few to do some tests on Blaze.”

Leonard nods and Barry speeds off.

~~~

Leonard looks around Barry’s place after Barry lets them in. Barry is speeding around putting things away. Leonard keeps well back, not wanting the whooshing to wake Blaze, who is finally back asleep in his arms after being woken for medical tests. Dr. Snow had been very gentle, but Blaze, while never quite getting to full-blown crying, had made miserable sounding bleats during some of it especially when he had to be put down on a table. He would also start wriggling, though he would calm a little at Leonard’s voice. But he was okay being held by either Dr. Snow or Barry if they didn’t try to test anything, however, Blaze did seem happiest being held by Leonard. Ramon had stayed away from them during that part, muttering something about being scarred by a cousin’s vaccinations.

It was somehow decided that both Barry and Leonard should watch Blaze for the night, so here they are at Barry’s. Leonard wonders why Barry chose this place. It’s not much like what Leonard would have imagined for him.

“It’s the place I had with Iris. In the other time,” Barry says quietly, having stopped rushing around at some point and apparently seen Leonard’s puzzlement.

Leonard looks over at Barry. He seems a little sad, but not heartbroken like he was when Leonard had asked about his memories of Barry and Ms. West being engaged after Leonard had… gotten better. Leonard had been confused by certain differences he had noticed, concerned he’d somehow gotten memories from another timeline from the Oculus somehow or that he’d been in the wrong timeline or that something had changed the timeline artificially. Leonard hadn’t wanted to be in the wrong timeline and he _really_ hadn’t wanted to be in one where there was something else controlling it, given how far he’d had to go to stop that the last time. So, he’d found Barry and as much as he didn’t want to talk about either timelines or relationships, he’d made himself ask. As it had turned out, there _was_ an artificial cause to the changes. Something about the speed force and time remnants and maybe time itself all interacting and causing a ripple through the timeline. Barry had told him that since Iris was alive and well and Barry had seen firsthand what trying to “fix” things could do, Barry had decided to leave everything how it had ended up. And some of the other changes had been good, despite how personally devastating never having a relationship with Ms. West had been for Barry. “She has good taste.”

“How do you know I didn’t choose it?”

Leonard gives a small, careful shrug. “You could have chosen it, if you were choosing with her in mind. Left to yourself, for yourself, no.”

“No, I guess this probably wouldn’t have been my first choice for myself, if the other time hadn’t ever happened.”

“Punishing yourself?”

Barry looks like he’s going to deny it, but then he pauses. “Maybe, a little, at first. Maybe trying to get her to see me in that light again. But after a while, it was just somewhere familiar, comforting. Iris and I had built a home here in the other time. I could have a home here, not everything had to change.”

It’s been a long time since Leonard’s thought of any place he’s lived in as home, but he concedes with an incline of his head that familiarity can be comforting. Leonard looks around for somewhere for Blaze to sleep tonight. Barry had brought up the detachable carrier from the car seat that Leonard hadn’t even bothered to bring into the lab. He goes ahead and carefully sets a sleeping Blaze down in it for now. Then he looks around at the options available.

“What did you need?” Barry asks, noticing.

“A drawer.”

“What? Oh. Um, yeah, of course you should have a drawer. I mean, somewhere to put your stuff, not like we’re dating and you’re staying over a lot. Though you are staying over, but not like that. Not that you couldn’t have a drawer like that. With people you date, I mean. I’m sure you’ve had drawers, um…”

Leonard watches and waits politely until Barry finally embarrasses himself into silence. “For Blaze. A drawer padded with blankets will be better for him than sleeping in the carrier. And I can get Lisa to get a crib if it looks like he’s staying for more than a couple days.”

Barry blushes. “Oh. Oh. Yeah, okay, I’m sure I have something.” He turns away to head deeper into his apartment.

“By the way?”

Barry turns back “Yeah?”

“I have had a couple of serious relationships.”

Barry looks at him with confusion.

“It just seemed like you were uncertain or even fishing.”

“No, I wasn’t, I-“ Barry breaks off and frowns, then looks guilty. “Okay, I might have been, but I didn’t realize I was, sorry.”

Leonard shrugs. “I’m perfectly capable of not satisfying your curiosity if I choose not to.”

“I know,” Barry mutters darkly.

Leonard raises an eyebrow. “You want to know something about me, Barry?”

“So much!” Barry blurts, then looks mortified.

Leonard keeps his surprise off his face and smiles provocatively. “Want to play two truths and a lie?”

“No. No. You would tell two lies and a truth and make me believe the lies and disbelieve the truth, just to mess with me.”

“Oh, well, look at that, you can learn.”

Barry rolls his eyes, then makes a frustrated noise. “You aren’t just not an open book, you are a book written on an Enigma machine, with a lock on it that can only be opened by answering an unsolvable riddle, hidden in the middle of an impossible maze.”

“I’m not that complicated.”

“What’s your favorite color?” Barry shoots back.

Leonard considers that.

“It’s not a hard question!” Barry yelps.

“It changes.”

“Oh my God. Of course it does,” Barry almost yells.

Blaze startles awake in his carrier and starts fussing. Leonard goes over to pick him up and turns to glare at Barry. But Barry is heading out of the room muttering about perfectly simple getting to know you questions.

~~~

Barry’s still grousing about it under his breath (sort of) as he fixes himself a late night snack before bed. Leonard is in the pull-out sofa bed going through one of his phones. Blaze is asleep in a drawer, padded with blankets, that rests on the floor next to Leonard. After several minutes of Barry grumbling between bites of the enormous sandwich he’s eating, Leonard puts his phone is sleep mode and gets up to go over to the kitchen. Barry looks up and frowns at him when he finally notices him only a couple of feet away, but Barry does stop grumbling and even puts down the bit of sandwich he has left.

“It’s blue, right up ‘til it reminds me of the Oculus, it’s red, up ‘til it reminds me of blood, mine and others, it’s white, up ‘til it reminds of the white of everything when Lisa was getting stitched up, it’s orange, up ‘til it reminds me of a fire with Mick in the center of it, it’s black, up ‘til it reminds me of the emptiness of…it changes, okay?” Leonard says with a grimace.

Barry’s staring at him with open-mouthed shock.

Leonard would bet that Barry thinks Leonard will clam up now, so he keeps going because he loves to confound expectations… and that’s an interesting look for Barry. “I like Bond movies, which is probably not that surprising, but what I really love is a farce. I can’t stand celery. I’m good at poker, I like gin rummy, but bullshit is really my game. I wanted to be a magician when I was very young. Rainstorms, I can take or leave, but an ice storm makes even the slums look good. I have an autographed first edition of Asimov’s The Rest of the Robots. I don’t like Madeline because I read those damn books to Lisa so many times. There you go, now you’ve gotten to know some details about me.”

Barry’s mouth moves, but no sound comes out.

Leonard smirks at him and says, looking pointedly at Barry’s mouth, “Careful there, I might think you’re trying to suggest something.”

“What? Oh. I wasn’t,” Barry says, but his eyes slip down Leonard’s body.

Well, isn’t that intriguing? Leonard’s waiting with a cocked eyebrow when Barry’s eyes come back up to meet his again.

“Whatever, shut up,” Barry says defensively.

Leonard raises his hands in innocence.

“Like you don’t know. I mean, it’s bad enough when you’re being all seductive thief, slinking around, _leaning_ , posing, displaying yourself like you’re at a photo shoot all the damn time, but like this?”

Leonard is not actually sure what _this_ Barry is talking about. Of course he does the posing, he knows how to use his body to his advantage, partly because he likes the attention, but partly because it’s an easy distraction. Getting people to focus on that rather than what he’s thinking and not always realizing or realizing too late when he’s up to something, well, that’s just part of the fun. Though he’s generally loath to give away when he doesn’t know something, sometimes it’s the shortest path to information, so he gives Barry an inquiring look.

Barry gestures at him. “You know, with the baby and the sharing and the clothes, on top of the flirting. Oh my god, oh my god, you’re just like a cat. All knowing and above it all and untouchable, until you’re not. Attention-seeking and deigning to play with us mere humans.”

And now Leonard understands what Barry was getting at. Leonard, in his sleep clothes (he usually keeps a packed bag with a few days and nights worth of clothes and toiletries stashed somewhere nearby, just in case he has to run or something else comes up and this time it was in the car) and with his behavior, seems approachable to Barry in ways he hadn’t before. Being who he is, though, Leonard says, in apparent disbelief, “A cat?”

“Yes! You lounge in ridiculous positions and places and make it look graceful. You go after shiny things with zeal. And when someone pisses you off or hell, just because you feel like it, you’ll try to take someone’s face off. But then sometimes you’re all, you know, purr-y and almost…um, cuddly?”

“Are you saying you want to pet me?”

Barry sputters.

Leonard can’t keep his amusement off his face.

“Ugh, you’re just so, argh,” Barry says exasperatedly. He turns to finish off the last of his sandwich and frowns when he can’t find it.

Leonard holds it up and waves it a little.

“When did you-? You know what, never mind.”

Leonard shrugs and tosses the bit to Barry, who fumbles but catches it. He heads over to his bed. He checks on Blaze, who is sleeping soundly, and settles down for the night, a faintly triumphant smile on his face.

~~~

Leonard is feeling pretty good when he wakes up in the morning. Blaze only woke up once for feeding and a change, so he got a fair amount of sleep. And last night’s interaction with Barry had been satisfying. Leonard’s good mood only lasts until he sees Barry at the table, staring grimly at some papers.

“Blaze’s DNA test?” Leonard asks quietly, hoping it’s that and not something with the medical tests making Barry so upset.

Barry looks up. He looks angry and sad and maybe a little panicked. “Yeah.” 

Leonard considers for a moment and then asks, “Yours?”

Barry blinks, a little surprised, but then slowly nods.

“And I’m guessing there were no encounters that could lead to a surprise baby.”

“No. Not even if Caitlin’s estimate of four months is off by four months.”

Leonard raises his eyebrows. “Okay. So, someone engineered Blaze. Any idea who?”

“Not really. I’ve had a lot of samples taken since the accelerator explosion.”

“And STAR Labs can be and has been broken into. Any ideas about the mother?” 

“No. The first set was just run against all the speedsters we had DNA profiles for. We’re running through metas right now and we’ll expand beyond that if we need to, but that might be a little tricky.”

Leonard nods. He leaves Barry at the table with a pensive expression and goes to get ready. His mind ticks through the information, thinking about stolen DNA, experimentation, and how meta powers can be passed down genetically. He doesn’t come to any conclusions, he doesn’t have enough information for much beyond wild leaps and since they aren’t in crisis mode, he lets it sit, for now.

Leonard leaves Blaze with Barry for a while so Leonard can go pick up some things. When he gets back, Barry is looking at Blaze, half-smiling, half-frowning. He’s playing with Blaze’s feet. Leonard thinks maybe Barry hasn’t internalized that he is Blaze’s biological father. Barry likes Blaze, certainly, but he given his (rather outsized) sense of responsibility for damn near everything, Leonard is surprised there isn’t more angsting. It could be, of course, that Barry’s non-involvement in Blaze’s conception gives him a sort of detachment from Blaze, which would be reasonable, but Leonard doesn’t think so. Barry’s smile as he hands Blaze over to Leonard clearly shows that Barry adores Blaze. Leonard thinks about the deference Barry shows him in regards to Blaze. Maybe Barry hasn’t quite taken it in, and maybe he thinks of Blaze as Leonard’s. Leonard’s not really sure what to think about that.

~~~

Barry’s at the table again with papers when Leonard bring Blaze back from a walk. Leonard sets Blaze down and pulls off the cap and team jacket that serve to keep him from getting recognized. He gets Blaze fed and put down for a nap, all while Barry sits silently at the table, which makes Leonard wary. Leonard sits down across from him and raises a brow. Barry goes to talk a couple of times, but stops himself. It makes Leonard even warier.

Finally Barry asks, “Do you know about alternate Earths?”

Not something Leonard was expecting. He nods, thinking sourly of how much glee Mick had taken in telling Leonard all about the aliens he had missed.

“So, there was one that I was on.”

“Over a year ago?”

“Actually, no. It was less than that.”

“Dr. Snow’s estimate of Blaze’s age was off?”

“No, or at least we don’t think so. That Earth’s Barry’s DNA is really close to mine, so mine would show a close familial match.

“And the mother and that Barry are from that Earth? You have their DNA profiles?”

“Yeah, Caitlin asked for some their meta profiles, especially metas that they have that we don’t, so she could look at the similarities and differences and it would help her get a better idea of the genetic changes in general. And they gave them, voluntarily. I just didn’t think to run the other Flash’s. We would have both come up, of course. But that would have put me on a faster path to figuring things out.”

“So, who’s the mother?”

Barry hesitates.

Leonard straightens. “Lisa? Lisa’s a meta?”

“Oh, uh, no, not Lisa, but she is a meta there.”

“Sara?” Leonard asks.

“No. Why would think that?”

“Given how nervous you are about it, it has to be _someone_ I’m familiar with and would care about if it was. But the list is rapidly dwindling.”

“Oh. Okay, so, did you know that they can take a donor egg and remove the DNA from it and then take the combined DNA from two male contributors and insert it in the egg?”

Leonard lets that sink in for a moment. “It’s not Mick, is it?”

“No.”

“I’m, that Leonard Snart is a meta?”

“Oh, yeah, he can make a pretty big area cold or freeze things. He’s, uh, King Cold.”

“Nice.” Leonard can always appreciate good wordplay. “So, it was deliberate then, leaving Blaze there.”

“Yeah, Cisco found evidence of a portal not long before you found him and another one a few minutes after.”

“Probably found me, looked for an opportunity, and watched until I had him. Still risky, though, didn’t exactly know what kind of person I would be.”

“I may have talked about you some,” Barry says sheepishly.

Leonard lifts an eyebrow. He would pursue that, but he’s got so many other questions now. “Why didn’t they leave him with you? Why not just _hand_ him over? Or leave a note? Or supplies? Why leave him at all?”

“I don’t know the answers to most of those questions, but the last one, um, we tried to contact that Earth. It was gone,” Barry says solemnly.

“Gone? Like Alderaan gone? Or like… Krypton gone?”

“That’s a good question, but we don’t know. It doesn’t seem like they had much time, whatever happened. I don’t understand why they didn’t contact me or another Earth or something, but it doesn’t look like they did.”

Leonard lets his mind step through possibilities. “Hmm.”

“What?”

“They might not have wanted whatever was going on to spill over and become an even bigger problem. And I’m guessing they had a plan.”

“Then why did they bring Blaze here?”

“Barry,” Leonard says chidingly, “what have I told you about plans?”

“Right, expect the plan to go off the rails. So this was your, his, King Cold’s back-up?”

“Or back-up of a back-up. Or a last-ditch contingency. But it explains a few things. Either he didn’t think Blaze would be here for long or he didn’t have enough time to do much more than what he did.”

Barry looks sadly over to his bedroom where Blaze is down for a nap. “He just wanted Blaze to be safe.”

To get both their minds off it, Leonard says, “So, Flash and Cold?”

“Oh! I mean, there was a lot going on at the time, but looking back, yeah.” Barry inhales sharply all of a sudden. “Oh my God!”

Leonard cocks his head in question.

“I heard… something. When I was over there. I thought they were fighting,” Barry almost wails, turning red.

Leonard laughs.

~~~

They’re in a holding pattern. Leonard is mostly at Barry’s, taking care of Blaze. Fortunately, though, Leonard can do much of his work from anywhere. Barry is in and out, going to STAR Labs, his job, being the Flash, but finding time to eat with Leonard and Blaze and play with Blaze (Barry does something with his hands that Leonard’s eyes can’t actually follow, but Blaze’s can and he finds it fascinating). Barry tells Leonard about the increasingly ridiculous plans Cisco and a whole gaggle of other people from other Earths have come up with to get some answers (one involved the Mars Rover and another had something to do with Voyager, if that Earth had had them, of course). Leonard would make fun, but honestly sometimes ridiculous seems to work better than logical or reasonable, especially around here.

Leonard gets complacent about his plans for stealing from the mobsters. So, when Blaze is asleep, Leonard starts working on them in the open. And okay, maybe he’s not as cautious as he should be since part of him sort of wants Barry to know because he thinks Barry will approve and Leonard wants to show off a little. However, when Barry catches sight of some of the blueprints and asks about them and Leonard tells Barry a little about his plans, Barry starts yelling.

“You’re supposed to be better than this! You’re supposed to be good! You’re supposed to have _learned_!”

Leonard gets defensive and says, “Once a thief, always a thief.”

“Just like your father taught you,” Barry says bitterly.

Leonard draws himself up, pulling an icy demeanor around himself like a cloak. “Oh, the superior Flash. The vigilante. Who has used police resources in such ways that every case that’s been worked since he got there could be jeopardized. The one who asked for _my_ help to break into a place run by a friend trying to keep powerful technology out of the wrong hands. The one who didn’t seem to have a problem that I was recruited to time travel for my skills, because of my skills, to use those skills for the _greater good_. So, apparently _you_ can decide when it’s okay for me to steal and _others_ can decide when it’s okay for me to steal, but _I_ don’t get to. I see. I think-“

“Wait! Stop. You’re right,” Barry interrupts.

Leonard’s knocked right out of his rant. “What?”

“You’re right. I’m sorry. You absolutely have a point. I’m sorry. And I really crossed the line with that remark about your father,” Barry says ashamedly.

“It’s true enough,” Leonard says stiffly.

“No, it’s not. He was a terrible thief. You taught yourself, just like you taught yourself so many other things. I’m sorry I said that. I just- I’ve spent the last couple of hours writing down everything I could remember about Blaze’s parents, so he’ll have it someday,” Barry says, almost on the verge of tears. “And this job, it’s the mob, it’s so dangerous. You could get hurt or killed. You haven’t been back all that long. If you died again, I couldn’t-“ Barry stops and swallows. “What would happen to Blaze?”

“You would take care of him or maybe he’d get adopted by a nice couple who knew about metahumans, which is maybe something that we should have already started looking into,” Leonard says stoically, not letting the reluctance he feels seep into his voice.

“I don’t think you want that. I know I don’t. I think you love him. I know I do. I like having both of you here. I think you like being here. I don’t think you want him being taken care of by someone else. Do you?”

“It doesn’t matter what I want. It matters what’s best for him.”

“I think that’s you.”

“Barry, there’s a reason I got a vasectomy.”

“Yeah, you didn’t want to be like your father. You’re not. You’re really good with Blaze and I think you would be better than anyone else. I think you get him in a way most others can’t. Like the way you get me, when even _I_ don’t get me.”

“Barry-“

“But even if you don’t think I’m right and you decide that the best thing for Blaze is to be adopted by someone else, even though it would be really hard to say goodbye to him, I’d still want _you_ here.”

“Barry, I’m not-“

“Wait, let me get my pitch in. Ever since we met, you’ve been pushing me. And, yeah, it was for you at first, so you’d have a more worthy opponent, but you made me get faster, think more, try harder. It took me a while to realize. When you helped me at ARGUS, you tried to talk me into leaving you. Later, you said something about seeing the bad in me, but you know me pretty well and I think you were just trying to get me outside my panic, make me think. I think you knew I wouldn’t leave you there. I hope you knew I wouldn’t leave you there.” Barry looks at Leonard in question.

“I was pretty sure. If, for some reason, you had listened to me – you are very contrary, by the way – and left, I would’ve been surprised that you were being pragmatic and expected you to come back. Still, Barry, I got in there, I could have gotten out. It just would’ve been a bit more of a… challenge. But I like challenges. Most of the time.”

Barry smiles fondly and shakes his head. Then he focuses again. “You make me better. A better hero, but a better person, too. I like being challenged by you. I like working with you. And, really, though I shouldn’t, I like going up against you. I just like being around you. You’re smart and funny and strong. You’re a good nemesis, a good ally, a good man. And you also make everything you do look good, which is really annoying,” Barry pauses, then adds quietly, but intensely, “I want you here. I hope you want to be here, with me.”

Leonard looks at Barry for a long moment. It’s a hell of a pitch, but it’s also a hell of risk. But, really, risk just makes things more exciting, and for a reward like this? Well. “There are very few people I care much about. There are many things that catch my attention, but very few that keep it. You are one of those very few.”

Almost before Leonard stops speaking, Barry’s wrapped around him and kissing him breathless. Barry pulls back a bit and asks, “That’s a yes, right?”

“We can try.”

And Barry’s back to kissing him, holding him so close, Leonard wonders if he’s trying to actually fuse them together. He dismisses that thought before it can get a real hold in his mind because he’s pretty sure Barry could do that or something near it and he doesn’t want to be distracted from this. Leonard tries to be a little more proactive, but Barry is pretty adamantly clinging to Leonard as if he’s afraid Leonard’s going to pull away. Though Leonard sometimes thinks of Barry as a stick, he’s pretty much all muscle. And he’s about the same height than Leonard, though maybe taller with the hair, so Leonard is surrounded by him, almost caged. It’s maybe the first cage in his life he doesn’t feel any sort of need to be free of. Barry is a good kisser, focused, passionate, not quick at all. After a few long moments, Barry finally draws back, only from Leonard’s lips though, resting their foreheads together. Barry looks like he’s about to say something when there’s a noise from the other room. Barry smiles and flashes away, but walks back with Blaze, dangling some brightly-colored plastic keys for Blaze to try to grab.

Barry glances up at Leonard and then back to Blaze. “So, what about Blaze? I want him. Here with us. I think we’d be good for him and he’d be good for us.” Barry looks back up at Leonard. “But if you really think it’s for the best that he gets adopted by someone else, well, it would suck, but I would trust you.”

Leonard looks at Barry with Blaze in his arms. His mind ticks through a list of pros and cons. Then Blaze does the blurring thing with his hand again, orange afterimage lingering, and Leonard throws away the list. This is a baby speedster with possible cold powers, Barry and he may, in fact, be the best option. And it’s something he never expected, something he went out of his way to avoid, but he wants this. He wants to be a father to Blaze, he wants a family with Barry. He takes a deep breath and says, “We’d have to make some changes.” Actually, many changes. Luckily, he likes logistics.

“Really? You mean, you want to do this? Raise him with me?’

“We can try. I want to try. I want this. I think we can do this.”

Barry’s smile is incandescent. He walks over to Leonard, with Blaze happily waving the captured keys around. The second they get close to Leonard, though, Blaze drops the keys and reaches out for Leonard. Leonard takes him.

“Blaze Snart?” Barry asks musingly.

“God no.” The Snart name has all kinds of baggage, plus no need to give Leonard’s enemies a convenient target. Leonard looks down at Blaze blowing a spit bubble and thinks about it a couple of moments before looking up at Barry and suggesting, “Blaze Michael Henry Allen?”

Barry blinks, eyes wet. He clears his throat and says, “That sounds really good.” Barry puts an arm around Leonard and smiles down at Blaze.

There are a lot of things they’ll have to do – get paperwork for Blaze, find a more secure place, work out a schedule, discuss job risk, Leonard will have to call Lisa and tell her she’s an aunt (that one he’s looking forward to), he needs to get a message to Mick, Barry will have to tell the Wests (Leonard’s not at all looking forward to that one), and so on. But for now, it’s nice just to stand here, with Barry, with Blaze. All of them together, just being here.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you find any typos or if the format is messed up or if you think I need any tags.


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